MANAWANUI DELIVERS TO CUTOFF EAST COAST

HMNZS MANAWANUI, the first ship to depart Devonport with relief aid, focused on Gisborne and the communities to the north.

MANAWANUI, with a crew of 50 plus 28 extra personnel, departed Auckland on Wednesday 15 February with 5,000 one-litre bottles of water and 20 empty 1,000-litre containers, to be filled enroute with fresh water generated by the ship. It also carried three tonnes of frozen produce, sanitary items, portable toilets and PPE.

Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast was visited on MANAWANUI’s leg to Gisborne and again going north, owing to the community’s willingness to distribute supplies to other settlements.

Sub Lieutenant Cat Berry, the Ship’s Information Officer, said at Tokomaru Bay a local boat came out to meet them. “They were really grateful for whatever we could give them,” she said. “Our shore party told me there was a lot of good Kiwi spirit going on; just doing the best they could with what they had.”

Using the local boat and one of MANAWANUI’s Rigid Hulled Inflatable boats, the crew transferred 1,600 litres of water, one tonne of frozen food, 140 loaves of bread and 120 litres of diesel.

The locals said they would distribute some of the supplies to smaller communities that could only be accessed by 4x4 vehicles.

“They told us they had an air drop of stores, as did Tolaga Bay, but Waipiro and Te Puia Springs had been inaccessible and were running low on food and diesel.”

As a consequence the ship went to Waipiro and launched a RHIB and zodiac boats.

“A shore party got ashore with the RHIB and were able to get more information from the people there. They were also in good spirits. Unfortunately we weren’t able to transfer any stores as the surf conditions made it unsafe to do so.”

The ship was helped in its role with a team of divers and hydrographers from HMNZS MATATAUA on board. Commander Yvonne Gray, Commanding Officer, said they could provide an assessment of beaches and ports before supplies were offloaded.

“They have the capability to do Rapid Environmental Assessments, to make sure the ship can get into a particular port, or it could be the safety of my RHIBs getting onto a beach or into a port to deliver aid.”

Food, water, clothing, tents, sleeping bags, generators and diesel were offloaded in Gisborne.

In Gisborne, Able Medic Kurt Neustroski went ashore to help deliver aid and equipment, then met his parents at the police station. “It was good to see they were all well, and good to see the community looking after each other.”

After offloading in Gisborne MANAWANUI revisited the East Coast. At Anaura Bay the ship delivered water, food, newspapers and sanitary products.

In Tokomaru Bay the ship delivered a generator, food, newspapers, bottled water, and 440 litres of diesel. Waipiro Bay was revisited successfully with a delivery of bottled water and newspapers.

As well as supplies, the visits were about talking to locals, making sure communities were coping.

Sub Lieutenant Zane McEntee said people seemed to be in good spirits on the East Coast, but there were things they were running short on.

STATISTICS:

6 3

East Cape communities visited Boat moves

DELIVERED:

3000 litres of bottled water

421 loaves of bread

2.5 tonnes of meat

0.5 tonnes of vegetables and fruit

940 litres of fuel

126,000 litres of ship-generated (non-certified) water

3 tonnes of general relief stores

“They’ve gone through this stuff before, they are aware of it and how to handle it. However there’s some important stores, such as food, water and diesel for generators, especially for areas such as Te Puia Springs, which has been cut off from power. Those are the three main stores we’re finding people are in need of at the moment, but other than that these people are in high spirits and do know how to respond to this sort of thing.”

The ship also called into Napier during the relief effort to collect Red Cross and Ngāi Tahu items delivered by HMNZS CANTERBURY for the East Coast. “Our mission is to continue to support the Gisborne region, giving support to communities that cannot be reached by road at the moment because of the road closures, but we can reach them by sea," said CDR Gray.